THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 267, 18 December 1909, Page 4

THE STORYTELLER.

i , v - •; ' 7 1" "LA DIVA'S" LOVE-STORY. L> ■■ •'l— Mattering s . sigh, James Lanyon glanced out over the puddled surface of Piccadilly. Querulously watched/the traffic's rusn, waiting fori a pause in its rapid sequence to the crossing of Bond Street; tliHn, hunching lus shoulders, he slouch?d wearily forward in the direction of the Circuß. The sandwich hoards he carried under his arm seemed weighted with leal. Gripping their edges the tighter with numbing fingers, Lanyon followed tSe kerb till the Circus, with its attendant glow of garish light, was reached.

• "Good old Piccadilly!" lie Buttered slowly out from between his teeth. "Gad! You haven't changed moth linte I left London six years ago! I cauld sport a white shirt and swallow-tails then, and—well, what's the use of raking up the past, any way! 1 was a mirn in those days—now I'm wreckage. Still. I'd like to Know what happened to HtUe Violet Greyson. I wonder if she has—gone .under, toot . "She, too, had dreams," he soliloquised, the bitterness of his soul finding •xpresslon in the eyes he turned on the distant Criterion. "Poor little girl! She had an idea a chorus-girl could' transform herself into an artiste earning a weekly salary running into three figures. I wonder how long it took her to become disillusioned? A year—two, perhaps? Certainly not longer. Atid nil that happened six years ago. Jore! it teems a century! Sis years only since I said I would return from America ■ millionaire, to wed her even though she were a beggar in the street. Just six years since she, bidding me good-"uye in her turn, promised to become a great artiste, and vowed she'd marry me even thoogh I hadn't a ha'penny .to my name. Gad! I can almost hear her telling me

that it wouldn't matter if I failed oat .West—-that she'd have .made her naue 'by the' time I returned; yet sever a .iue was to pass between us until we Should meet—meet outside— A suspicious moisture rose all unbidden to iianyon's weary eyes. "Till we should meet outside the Criterion—at eight to-nigkt, the sixth anniversary of my departure from the Old country." The man laughed bitterly, mattering as he did so-. "I wonder if Violet remembers the appointment male six years ago? Of course she does not. She is married, I suppose, or—dead! At times I wish 1 were. Still, IH keep Ibe tryst to-night, if only for the grim ' humor of the thing." He paused abruptly in his slouching tramp towards the roadway, the feel of » heavily-laid hand on the shoulder abruptly arresting his further progress. "Jimmy Lanyon, dr I'm a Dutchman:" cried a, voice in his ear. "And on the rocks! How are you, Jim? What toe - deuce are you doing in that get-up, eh?" Flushing hotly beneath his weatherbeaten tan, Lanyon turned a gaunt Uve on his interlocutor. Smiling grimly, lie refused to grasp the perfectly-gloved 1 hand held out to him in greeting. \ "I would dirty it if X did, Bob," said be, abruptly. "You're about the Ust man I should have expected to fir.d recognising wreckage of my type. Still, I'm grateful, Bob, and " Crazier frowned, irritably. For the moment he felt unreasonably angry to find his land refused by a beggar. ■ " Time mendeth the man,'" he quoted, sententiously. "Also, I never forget a frienU. So far, you have omitted to tell me what you are dong here in that get-up." "X am in this 'get-up,' as you call it, for the simple reason that I do not j-os-sess another," he replied, doggiedly defiant of his companion's scrutinising stare. "The boards under my arm, 1 think, tell their own tale. I am earning ' eighteenpence a day advertising the tperits of La Diva." "Oh, ah! oTcourse, La Diva! Glorious voice.. Warbles at the *Pav.," ycu know, and, unlike most singers, is deuced pretty. Rich as Croesus—or—er —at least she ought to be, getting seven hundred ,a week. They do say she is going to tackle opera in the spring at Covent Garden. Sprang up from nowhere,: too. No one quite knows who she is or anything much about the lady, except thit England, bred her, and—l say, Jim, let me lend you a sov. or <o." Crozier paused abruptly in the evident awkwardness of his Speech. From the level of his trouser pocket came en echo of coins jangling. "It would he interesting to know on what security you would lend it, Bob," smiled back Lanyon, touched in spite of —himself at kia friaud's clumsy proffer of help. "Thanks, old chap; but I won't , borrow, and I'm too proud to beg. I am getting along all serene—and, really, Bowton House is quite a decent sort of hotel when you become used to it! I'll say good-bye to you, Bob, now. I have to give these boards in by a quarter to eight, or be fined." "What are you doing to-night, Jim— I mean, after you have handed thoie things in?" "I have an appointment at eight." Lanyon smiled, a trifle bitterly, then added, "Good-night, Bob. I'm sorry I once thought you a rotter." Crozier laid his hand with an impulsive heaviness on the shoulder of s>is strangely-found friend. "Come and see me to-morrow," he said, shortly, ignoring the last phrase of Lanyon's speech. "You know where 1 . live—-Jermyn Street. I haven't moved, and I know a Jot of.these City fello.vs. I—lll get you fixed up somewhere if , you wiU only agree to swallow that beastly pride oi yours and turn up. Well, Jim,'is it a deal? If so, I'll expect you at about eleven." "11l come," whispered back the man, huskily. "If you think you can make something out of such wreckage as I am, 111 turn up. You're a pal, Bob, and 111 be at the old show to-morrow at eleven to fhe"tic&.-' Then, ae though afraid, to trust his lips-with further speech, Lanyon plunged boldly into the midst of the Circus traffic, and gaining Shaftesbury Avenue hurried along its length till Wardour Street was reached. By a miracle he escaped the fine he lad anticipated being mulcted of, eo, pocketing his meagre daily wage, Lanyon retraced his steps towardis the Kilting outside the Pavilion, he glanced scrutinisingly through the traffic at tlie hurrying ranks of wayfarers on the pavement. His mind urged L .uandon the search as being a ... ■ .. .me, yet his heart kept his eyes li&eu ou the passing throng in the elusive hope that amid the sea of faces he might be able to distinguish the features love had ever kept so cleany limned .before his fancy. Yet the seconds Sped without conjuring up the vision he had vainly trusted to see materialise. Of Violet Greyson his hungry eyes cojild detect no trace.

Doubt, ' "came at length a certainty. In the cid days her punctuality 'had ( earned for the girl his niqkname of "The 1 Soldier." Bearing this in mind, Lanyon ] decided that the elusive hope he Hal conjured into being against his betVr ■ senss was destined to vanish as dew before the sun. ] Impatient, and with a sudden almost, ■ uncontrollable hunger gnawing at h : s •' heart, Lanyon left the kerb by the Pavilion to cross the roadway. Strangely enough, he found himself possessed 1 of tut idea that if he could but once gam 1 the pavement facing him he would find the girl whose advent he Waited. Lv ■ tuitively he felt she would be keeping ; her tryet by the portico of the Criterion. : A sight of her face would be as meat and drink to him,,even though he could ( not speak to the idol of his heart. ' They would pass as ships in the night. : F-om afar he would see her and hug to himself the knowledge that she had !eBembereS. arfJ Uy so doing had remained faithful to a tryst of six years' standing. Bodging the traffic as best he might, Lanyon sped swiftly across the highway 'ill, when within a couple of yards of lis goal, a harsh shout of warning rang ut loudly from behind him. StaTtled, jie made a dash for the kerb. ftomptas had ojen his action, it came too late to save him from collision with a swiftly-driven motor-brougham. Going down before its sudden impact, lie !it beneath its wheels in a huddled, ghastly sprawl, i White-faced r.nd shaking, ll'e chauffeur descended* from his box and with the kid'of a" bystander helped to gently drag the senseless man from lieHeath the vehicle. "The man is not dead, is he. Jones?" "No, miss—the fellow's leg is broken, though, I'm afraid." Touching his cap. the chauffeur stood aside ite his mistress, n ffirl in the full lieauty of radiant, dawning: womanhoo.l, stepped out of the brougham into lhe , mud of the highway. She stepped quieklv towards the spot where the vic- ,, tim of the accident lay in the rainswept gutter, his haggard features unturned.- wildly towards the pitviiig heavens. A hush fell on the swiftly - forming crowd a policeman was forcing energetically backwards on itself. The face pttiw beautiful woman bending over the jjW'W' W

injured figure lying a t w w . As°{rom° Th? that throng i, , . one ""f 094 a BC °™ of void name a n ° te 0f "La Diva! It's La Diva!" i ,^]T WiUi V those iB the of tilt rapidly-swelling crowd Strove to foi't their way towards the front in order k ; catch a close view of the lovely face that, as much as the merit of the woman s voice, had served to hold Lor,. ; don h er tnrall. The idol of the ' them! 1 ' 0 6tood wiUlill a few feet of fhf UpP ?i tCli the time 'y a «ivttl of three others, the constable succeeded In Ke»pmg the pressing throng successfully m hand; then, having taken down in his note-book all necessary details concerning the accident, he turned his attention se?f m cliautieur to the singer lnr- , To his surprise, he saw the girl kneeling in the mud beside the prostrate man, pillowing hie head against !■« bosom. Oblivious of her surrounding la Diva, bending her head till its ra 'in wis brasbed the man's ashen face, wept silently, crooning to him as a mother might to her cnild. The policeman, developing a trait peculiar to the rest of his sex, felt aw<ward in the presence of a womaVs tears. "It's all right, miss," he remarked, bluntly emphatic. "There ain't no need for you to take on so. He'll be all right as goon as he's took to the hospital. It's | only his leg as h gone, miss," The constable's voice awoke La Diva to a sense of her surroundings. Abruptly she surrendered JLanyon's shoulders to the policeman's hold, then, risin'e to her feefc, said quietly: "Lift him into the brougham, if von please This man is not going to hospital lam taking him to my home to be attended to. I can promise you he will have the best of care." Shrugging his shoulders, the constable with the chauffeur's aid, did aB he wa? ordered; then, exercising his weight, kept back the pressure of the crowd til) the car, starting, sped swiftly in tn» direction of Piccadilly, to the accompaniment of a burst of cheering. Supporting Tanyon's head on Ur arms,, she gazed into his face with a wonderful wealth of love shining in the depths of her tear-washed eyee. "Dear—dear old Jim!" she whispered brokenly. "So you kept the tryst after all. You did not forget?" Then, as though fearful the action might be remarked, she bent her head brushing the man's chilled lips with a fugitive contact of her own. When Lanyon regained his senses, it . was to find himself in a luxuriouslyappointed bedroom, with an elderly and singularly hard-teatured woman by his ' side. The harshness of her face, how- ' ever, vanished beneath the inflection of a smile on his opening eyes ( ,nd 1 the ever • increasing wonder they ei- ■ Dressed.

"I will tell La Diva you have regained consciousness. She has only just "left the room to speak to the doctor. You have had a bad accident, which, however, might have been far worse." She left the room like a shadow, whilst lanyon, lying back amongst the soft luxury of .his pillows, was content to accept the good things of this world without question. Slowly but surely he pieced together past events as their knowedge came crowding into his fevered brain. He had been knocked down by a vehicle of some sort. Wincing, he wondered why the fact had been responsible for his introduction into what apparently was La Diva's home. Did the singer recognise in him the man who had throughout the day been responsible for advertising her name in those streets radiating from the Circus? lanyon allowed a fresh thought to filter into his mind. He had failed to keep the tryst he Ead plighted his word to remember. Its knowledge wrung a groan of agony from his lips as, jerking himself into an upright position in the bed, glanced at the little ormolu timepiece on the mantel. Its gilded hands pointed to the hour of ten.

"Violet! Violet!" he moaned, the name escaping his lips in a species f.f strangled sob. "I-I .kept the trystf kept my word, even if you never know

"But I do, Jim, for I kept it too!" The sudden intake of Lanyon's breath rang sharplv out above the silence of the room in a sibilant hiss. Surprise held him in its thrall, robbing him alike of speech and action'. Staring ahead of him, he remained motionless, absorbing the intoxication of the moment, till a touch of soft, yielding fingers on his arm, breaking the spell, proved the voice's sweet enchantment to be bred of reality and not of dreams.

Inert, tanyon fell back on his pillows. "Violet! Violet. Oh, my darling! Mv darling! God is indeed good—to let me see you once again." Shrilly, in a faltering quaver, the man's voice roe, jarring on the silence of the room. Weakly, he outstretched his arms towards Violet, and she, being but a woman an*d a very lovinw one, sank her shoulders between them with the contented sigh of a child at rest. heart!" she murmurod brokenly. Tile tryst has been kept, and those who have been parted brought together for all time. Jf you have failed, my Jim, the world has taken me at my own valuation, and I—l am rich, dearest. 1 ■ have worked for you, my darling—workeu against such a home-coming as yours has been—and I have won, dear. The chorus-girt of six years ago'is La Diva of to-day. Say you're glad, Jim! I—l have been waiting to hear your dear, for three long, weary

fle winced, but not with pain. Hoi 1ing the woman he loved to his breast with all the pagsion of a hungry heart, Lanyon stared stonily above him at the ceiling. His agony of mind at the moment was intense, as slowly but surely it was borne in on his brain that he was the failure, the wreckage ot a strong vessel broken by too rude a coni tact with the world. He had sunk low, yet not low enough to accept wealth at the hands of a woman, even though iShe should chance to be the one Tii» loved.

•'Tell me you are glad," she cried, querulously insistent that he should do so. "Tell me you are glad, my darling." j "Glad? My dearest, I think that is too poor a word to use when I am so proud of your success," he whispered back, rousing the happy blushes to [ Violet's cheeks by giving her glance for glance. "Yet—sorry, perhaps, Bincc ! your wealth must of necessity fee a | barrier to our union. I—l cannot bring mysielf to forget I am a failure, even at your expense." "Jim!"

"Don't make it harder for me than it is already, dearest," cried Lanyon, hoarsely. "Would you have me despise myself by consenting to idly share a success that is yours? I have sunk low •—yet not sufficiently for that." "But, Jim, you surely would not be selfish enough to break my heart to pander to your pride," she whispered back in low, feverish accents. "Surely you are not like the rest of your sex, who in their noble moments) take no thought of the girl they sacrifice. Am I to have waited si/ years for nothing? Of what use is my money to me, dear, if you pass out of my life? What matters it which of us two wrung wealth from Fate, so long as we have it? Think, [dear; we love each other, and, Jim—you cannot be so cruel as to wish to break my heart—you cannot, I Say! Tell me you cannot, dearest. Tell me I am right, for God's dear .sake!" Violet's arms stole around Lanyon's neck, he felt the burn of her lips upon his own, and saw the love shining in her eyes was of a wealth not to be rc--1 sisted, so he, being merely a man, yielded to the temptation of a very sweet i woman's voice.—Tit-Bits.